DWP Rate Hikes Pass City Council
With the ceremonial "grab of the ankles", Los Angeles tax payers were relieved of more of their hard earn money.The City Council voted this afternoon to raise power rates by 9% and water rates by 6%. (link to L.A. Times story by David Zahniser)
Withstanding the appeals of various Neighborhood Councils and average citizens, DWP General Manager H. David Nahai invoked the memory of a fallen firefighter to sway wavering council members into casting votes that would pass the controversal fee rate increases.
With the dirty deed done, who will be the main beneficiary of this new flow of revenue?
DWP Intrastructure??
IBEW??
Cadiz CEO Keith Brackpool??
DWP General Manager Message Boy Joe Avila??
City of Los Angeles General Fund??
Ari Swiller and S. David Freeman of Renewable Resources??
"BOSS D'ARCY" of IBEW??
The Environment??
The average DWP rate payers??
Labels: dwp, dwp rate hike, H. David Nahai, Los Angeles City Council
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 4/02/2008 03:17:00 PM
29 Comments:
I am seriously bummed that Joseph Mailander isn't here to write about this.
Great, legitimate writer.
I am a regular reader of this blog, but you guys lost your #1 person.
Things that make you go "Hmmm"....
From the L.A. Times article:
Councilman Bill Rosendahl went further, tying the Department of Water and Power's request for additional money to last week's electrical explosion in Westchester, where one firefighter was killed and another injured.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The DWP plans to use the money generated by the rate hike to replace 60 miles of high-voltage electrical cable each year, said spokesman Joe Ramallo. Under the current plan, none of the money will go toward secondary cable -- the kind labeled as a contributor to the Westchester explosion, Ramallo said.
HEY~ Thought you might be interested in joining a community of LA Bloggers: http://labloggers.ning.com/?xgi=5mcqS7g
The federal Economic Stimulus Payments coming out later this spring ought to just about cover this for year #1, for the average DWP patron anyway.
After that, you're all on your own.
3:44pm = Mailander. Mr. Mailander, can't you go out with some dignity? No one cares. And I hope your resignation from this blog means you also stop posting negative anonymous comments as well. You complained that you don't attack L&W with L&H. You don't attack them with baseball either. So what's the real reason you threw in the towel? I know why: Thin skin.
Mayor Sam didn't listen to Mr. Mainbrace's advice, so he quit. Mayor Sam, you'll probably shoot to #1 now.
CFL Bulbs Save Energy
Thanks to Matt Dowd for that public service post.
CFL bulbs cost DWP $1.25, but folded into your DWP bill you pay $6.00 for each one. Expensive shipping and handling? Thank you IBEW. Oh yeah, they are FREE.
I, for one, am glad good ole' Joe won't be posting here anymore. He's a great writer, and all, I'm sure, but people come to this blog for inside political talk. Not a photo gallery of pictures anyone could have taken with their cell phone camera or a bunch of cerebral stuff no one can understand except the country club crowd. There was a time when he used to lead the crowd with his insights, but he degenerated into a "Fishwrap of Record" slam-poster at best. Guys like him just can't be part of a team in the way one needs to be on a blog as this.
Great that Mailander is gone, now we can get more great posts from Anonymouse, always posts up such relevant and juicy Mexican stuff.
Slightly vitriolic but sweet!
In the northern states, the blogs get comments from AnonyMOOSE, the northern cousin of "anonymouse" here.
"This bloug sucks, eh? Let 'ave a beer!"
What a bunch of corrupt fools we have on council. All that money from the rate hike is going right into the general fund. Startling corruption in city hall.
Down South around Spring Break there's an abundance of Anony-cooze.
Where the heck does the Times get this $7 per month increase for the average user? Are these east coast transplants all living in cold-water walkups? Studio apts? How is dat?
At that rate, they're suggesting the average bill is less than $100 per month for water and power.
In what universe?
Boy did they buy the DWP's BS or what? Try 2-3 times that for the average home.
Who profits from this, you ask?
The Daily News reported weeks ago that 1 in 6 DWP workers makes $100,000 or more.
Who are these people? They're selling water and electricity through wire and pipes, not INVENTING IT for crying out loud.
Are there research scientists there trying to develop artificial water? Are they brain surgeon's operating on users to make them THINK they don't need electricity anymore.
1 in 6 makes six figures!! To sell water, print (higher) bills, and read the damn meters.
Normally I don't agree with tax and spend Janice Hahn, but she's right that it's messed up to reward people with bigger, water-wasting yards, especially by giving rate cuts in the VAlley. Dennis Zine a poor example, caught last year by the L A Times with the most wasteful water pattern for a yard landscaped with greenery and roses, "to set a good example," when the Valley should be like Palm Springs, Phoenix, etc. -- use water- resistant landscaping!
Speaking of drought resistant yards, check out this Steve Lopez piece from the Times.
This is absolutely disgusting.
Steve Lopez:
Watch out for Glendale's yard cops
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez13feb13,1,3505559.column?track=rss
4:35, you have no idea what the hell you're talking about.
Joseph knows who I am. You're an idiot because you THINK you do.
5:59, are you sure?
I remember some reporter showing that villaraigosa used more water than anyone. He blamed it on leaks created by something like squirrels or gophers.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but my recollection is that it was villaraigosa.
MAV's Getty house is beyond his personal control, and hosts a lot of events, it's not like a private home. And Zine lives all alone, officially.
Cardenas came in about a tie, though, because he has some dozen people living under his roof, he said, and a problem with gophers. Gophers were a big problem all around.
When they rated the water usage per person and need, though, Zine was the most intentionally wasteful.
At least Republican Smith has a modest home and solar heat/water.
We know Zuma won't be wasting water. Homeless people don't have yards.
So why doesn't someone do another Public Records Act request and get the updated water usage figures for those same people?
Villaraigosa does not use more water than anyone. It looks like he never washes his hair.
Mailander wasn't always my cup of tea, but at least he tried to talk serious politics and current events. To call the rest of what goes on here "inside political talk" is a hoot.
He probably didn't want to be associated with it anymore, and who could blame him!
Wait a minute. Corina has the Mt. Washington home. Corect me if I'm wrong but Villar HAS no other home. In other words if he didn't have Getty he'd be in a van, rapping and blogging to himself.
The Mayor's heavy usage of water was demonstrated with a graph of usages by him (both city and Mt. Washintong homes) and other city officials (including Rocky Delgadillo) on August 10, 2007 item from "FullosseousFlap’s" blog at: http://flapsblog.com/?p=5394
And they all get paid so highly that they have no reason to care about the costs of anything in the real world, nor the burden dumped on their constituents.
Thanks, you ladies and gentlemen representing us and our well-being on a city level. You would make us proud but for one big complaint- You all continue to waste our money while "fee-ing" us to death.
But that's just my own opinion.
In CD-14
Oh, and nice touch by DWP to say firefighter died because of DWP's short comings. Ghouls all. At least they have best pay deals of all city schemes. Could this statement be an admission legally, as well, to get a headstart for our city to foot bill on another lawsuit?
When will the citizens of Los Angeles wake up, organize and demand accountability? The council is stealing millions of dollars from the DWP every year for the general fund. Those funds should have stayed put to repair the infastructure. Instead, it has been squandered away by city council members who have too many perks. Every voting member of the city needs to go to their council member to demand they cut their staff and budget by at least 2/3. I start by asking Councilman Greig Smith in council district 12 to shut down either his Northridge office or his Chatsworth office, which are barely 10 miles apart? No matter how small the savings, from closing the office, cutting the staff from that office and all the incidental perks those staff members get, such as car allowances, cars, blackberries and cell phones, to name just a few perks, this should be done in a showing of good faith. Those savings need to be added to the city coffers. Each and every city council member needs to feel the pinch and sacrifice that every other resident of the city feels right now, after the string of consistent tax increases our councilmembers have sent our way. Please ask your councilman to do the same.
April 03, 2008 9:56 AM=payback for making waves when it comes to DWP water? Hmmmm. That would be someone on "Mr. Focused" paid team. (It's too smart for that certain other guy who hates Smith to create.)
Whether you agree with Janice Hahn or not, people with yards should still be charged the same amount of money for their water.
Or how about those who drive more than 10 miles to work have to pay more for gas. Just to teach them a lesson about gas. Are you serious? Anyone who drives a Hummer should pay $5 a gallon.
You water, you pay. It's that simple. You don't water, you don't pay.
Not - if you live in this area where people (damn them rich white folks) have yards, you pay more.
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